National President

Catherine Wells

Hello and Welcome to Cuidiú,

Charities are in an age of organisational change. During my time as President a particular challenge will be to ensure that Cuidiú's processes are transparent and adhere to new charity legislation, for the future. I hope to facilitate the transformation of Council into the new 'Board' by facilitating necessary changes while nurturing the ethos of Cuidiú. We hope to facilitate Cuidiú in continuing to be an organisation with integrity which supports parents in their most important role in life. It would be wonderful to raise the profile of Cuidiú nationally as a voluntary peer support organisation (charity) too. Cuidiú’s aim is to support every parent who ever they may be and whatever parenting choices they make.

I have a profound understanding of Cuidiú as primarily I am a mother of three children and I have been member of Cuidiú for 16 years as well as Cuidiú Parent to Parent (P2P) Tutor. During this time I have had the pleasure of working with the most wonderful parents and volunteers. I have worked at just about every role you can imagine within Cuidiú. These include branch coordinator, P2P support morning coordinator, toddler group coordinator, newsetter editor, events coordinator and other. I have been a memebr of the board on two occasions, the current term has been four years now. I have the pleasure of being President of Cuidiu for the last 2 years.

I am a member of the Teachers Council of Ireland and a Cuidiú Parent to Parent tutor, trained by the revered Sue Jameson. One of my passions is working to support parents. My work for many years has centred on supporting parents through the ups and downs of parenting. As a tutor I facilitate a Parent Support Training course for Cuidiú members. This is course covering 5 days, which imparts to parents the skills of active listening, postnatal depression and peer support for Cuidiú.

As a support worker and parent myself, my main interest has been in making like as simple and the least stressful as possible for parent. I have has given me a good knowledge and experience of supporting people, I give presentations, workshops and conference talks. These have been designed to inform, support and to empower people to lead a less stressful life, by putting everyday tasks into more manageable and stress free activities for the family and child. Working as a holistic practitioner for many years has re-enforced my role as advocate of personal wellbeing and promotion of good health. Part of this approach is looking at the everyday stresses we endure as a parent and breaking them down so they are more manageable and less challenging for Parents.

I have a degee in Psychology and a member of the perinatal and infant mental health special interest group in the psychological society of Ireland. I am a member of the Behavioural Analyst Certification Board and currently I am engaging in a MSC in Trinity College in Applied Behavioural Analysis. I have a keen interest in the importance of personal wellbeing for parent and children alike. As part of my support work I also present talks on many aspects of parenting. I facilitate ‘Parenting Classes’, including classes for parents whose children have development difficulties such as Dyspraxia, ASD and Dyslexia and HFA. Presenting a stress reducing way to approach life and its everyday chores gives people a better quality of life, especially those experiencing difficulties while parenting. Supporting parents to make informed choices is very fulfilling. I am also a certified Holistic Therapist.

Many of my best friends are ones I've met through Cuidiú and I look forward to working with the very hard working volunteers of the Cuidiú Board, Panels, Tutors and the members of Branches also.

All the best, Catherine

Catherine Wells, BA Psychology (UCD), Dip Holistic Therapy

Member of Psycological Society of Ireland, Behavioural Analyst Certification Board and Teachers Council of Ireland.